Living a language

Armed with a Baby Boomer's desire that my children will be bilingual before they reach double digits, in the winter of 2003 I began researching programs for families to study abroad.

I knew that two, three or even four weeks wouldn't be enough to make a child fluent, but this was an important building block for children.

"As short a time as just two weeks around native speakers can nurture the accent, [and demonstrate] how to correctly pronounce vowels and consonants," says Dr. James G. Mitchell, with the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Kenyon College. He says there are also many latent linguistic and cultural benefits from being immersed in the country.

I was dismayed to find only a handful of programs that could accommodate a 7-year-old, a 10-year-old and an adult learner at the same location.

So even though these ages are the best times to learn, it is a lot easier to find a high school junior year abroad program than a summer program for elementary students. The French-American Exchange offered a program in Aix-en-Provence, France, Enforex offered one in Marbella, Spain, and the Institute for Spanish Language Studies had a program in Dominical, Costa Rica.

Dana Garrison of the Institute for Spanish Language Studies explained why so few choices: During the school year, 90 percent of his business is college students participating in study-abroad programs. Teachers, senior citizens and professionals working to enhance their careers make up the rest of his market. During the summer months, high school students join those ranks. Families make up only about 2 percent to 3 percent of his clients. In 2005, he sent at most 25 families with around 60 children to various schools.

So, OK, maybe not the most popular vacation around. But I was convinced that this would be a perfect way to spend our summer.

With 346 million people around the world speaking Spanish as their first language including many in our home state of Florida, we selected Dominical, Costa Rica as our destination.

Language and lizards

When we landed in San Jose, Costa Rica, we saw the first of those hidden benefits Professor Mitchell spoke of. As we drove into an insane jumble of cars, Elizabeth, my then-10-year-old daughter, immediately started spotting words she knew on billboards. I didn't know how many words we would pick up that way, but it wasn't long before the words despacio (slow down), puente (bridge), cataratas (waterfall), and peligroso (dangerous) became a running joke with us. When we heard these words in other sentences, we began picking them out and using them again and again during our trip.The cultural experiences Mitchell spoke of were not far behind. If you are a world-class surfer, you will recognize Dominical as an international mecca for the hang-ten crowd.

Upon arrival, it turned out the town was even smaller than imagined, population 700. It was one muddy, potholed main street lined with a few stores, restaurants that doubled as bars and the ubiquitous Internet cafe. The best adjective to describe the town is primitive. The school can only be described as rustic: a series of brightly colored nippa huts with fans, a table and chair, and eraser-board. It was what went on inside these huts that made you forget the heat and dozens of green lizards slithering up the trees just outside the screens.

The name of the school tells it all: "Adventure Education Center." Hangman in Spanish was a way to test the adults' vocabulary while singing and Scrabble were a favorite for the children.

The three weeks in Costa Rica were so successful that we tried another program a few years later. Elizabeth, now 13 years old, had switched to French as her foreign language in middle school. Since I had lived in France growing up as an Army brat, and had continued to study both French and Spanish in college, I let the children choose where they would like to go for another immersion program. We settled on the South of France, in Aix-en-Provence. This time the results were mixed.

On to France

In Aix-en-Provence, Wheeler, my now 9-year-old, attended the Centre International Prive Pour L'Education et La Culture (CIPEC School). A year-round French school, its Club Ecole-Vacances program in French language studies dwindles down to 2025 children ages 6 to 11. The limited staff and small facility were hardly able to accommodate various language-skill levels and offered few sporting options during the afternoon activities time. It is a Catch-22 for the elementary schools. They cannot afford more teachers and activities until they have higher enrollment, but the caliber of the program needs to improve to attract more families.

Elizabeth's experience on the other hand was a complete success. The International Bilingual School of Provence caters to high school students. Those few years make all the difference in the world. The diverse student body gave her a chance to learn about other Europeans.

As a mother, I thought the teens seemed more similar than dissimilar; wearing the same clothes, listening to music and walking around with colored iPods in their ears. The activities and excursions were also well-organized taking her to sites like Marseilles' Chateaux D'If, which she had read about in The Count of Monte Cristo. The intensive classroom studies and our additional two weeks' travel enabled her to skip up a full grade-level in French when she returned to her American high school.

Although Wheeler's schooling proved a disappointment, the experts were right: Just being in an international environment, he learned more than I thought. This fourth-grader trots over to seventh-grade French daily and it is not a struggle, he is acing the class.

Use it or lose it

Heeding the experts' words of wisdom, Shonna Trinch, professor of Spanish and Linguistics at Florida State University's Department of Modern Languages cautions: "Use it or lose it. Everyone agrees attrition is a huge problem. If you don't use the vocabulary, it is gone."

To keep her speaking skills sharp and continue adding to her vocabulary of slang, Elizabeth asked me to track down a tutor. A young Parisian girl comes once a week to just talk, show French magazines, poems and music to Elizabeth. To supplement Wheeler's class time, Bruno (how French is that?) comes once a week also, to talk about his favorite topic, soccer and the World Cup games.

Learn from my mistakes, or buyer beware

Agencies and programs are like a la carte menus -- you can pick and choose what you want and buy only what you need.  Financial red flags: The Institute for Spanish Language Studies doesn't tack on a surcharge for any of its international programs. The French-American Exchange Program adds a 200-percent...

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